Given the problems facing the Catholic Church today, which seems to operate more like a business than a religious organization, it's strange to read about the exact same type of corruption and out-of-date, unrealistic attitudes in the upper echelons of the church hierarchy during the Victorian age. In Penguin Island, a near-sighted monk spots a group of penguins, and, mistaking them for parishioners, proceeds to baptize them all, inadvertently giving them all souls. The struggle to integrate these souled penguins into Catholic theology encompasses most of the story, which is a little dry for modern tastes but is fairly adept at skewering the Victorian attitudes of the age. Yeah, I made most of that last part up.
